Population transfer in the Na s-p Rydberg ladder by a chirped microwave pulse

While quantum defects of nl Rydberg states of Na with l{>=}2 are nearly equal to zero, the quantum defects of ns and np states of Na are quite large due to the finite size of its ionic core. Since the Na ns and np states are energetically isolated from the higher angular momentum states of the same n, we can think of the Na ns and np Rydberg states as a specific example of a simple multilevel ladder system consisting of only alternating s and p angular momentum states. Here we report that population transfer in the Na s-p Rydberg ladder can be effectively achieved using a frequency-chirped microwave pulse, which couples only s and p states under suitable conditions.